Monsoon here, dug-up roads make life difficult in Pune

Jun 19, 2012, 08:23 IST
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Priyankka Deshpande

Residents say civic body takes up various works every year just before onset of wet season, leaving vehicle users and pedestrians fighting their way through muddy stretches and innumerable obstacles that cause traffic jams every day

As the monsoon makes its advent in the region, the PMC has started various works that involve digging up roads in different parts of the city. Residents are facing difficulties commuting on these roads during office hours and traffic snarls are common.

Limit of patience: The dug-up DP Road in Kothrud yesterday. Residents say the work has been on for a few months now and is the reason behind traffic jams during peak hours. Pic/Krunal Gosavi

Development Plan Road near Kothrud, Nagar Road near Ramwadi area and the road near Sacred Heart Town in Wanowrie are some of the stretches where residents face problems on a daily basis. To add to their woes debris and water pipes are lying on the dug-up roads, putting the lives of commuters and students at risk, but PMC officials deny any extensive work is going on across the city.

Kothrud resident Gayatri Kulkarni, who resides on DP Road, said, “Earlier the school bus used to pick up my child from near our building. Now that road is dug up on one side, the bus driver is compelled to stop the bus in the middle of the road, which creates traffic snarls in the area.”

A spot on Nagar Road near Ramwadi area has been dug up since the past two years for laying of pipelines. “Crossing this road is challenging task, as a large portion of it had been dug up for laying of pipelines. This work is disturbing traffic coming from Yerawada and remains choked with slow moving traffic throughout the day,” said Neha Kapoor, who travels to Viman Nagar via Nagar Road.

The situation is similar in Sacred Heart Town in Wanowrie, where construction work has damaged the road. “Why does the civic body wakes up from slumber at the very last moment? They had enough time, but they still start construction work in the rainy season. This not only create traffic snarls, but the debris laying on the road is cause for accidents,” said Nikita Gholap.

Joyce Bob echoed the sentiment with regard to the situation as a result of construction work on the Bhairoba Nala Road. Prashant Inamdar of Pedestrian First, an NGO working for the rights of pedestrians, said that despite sending letters to PMC officials, no action has been taken.

“Every time the officials promise that the construction work on roads across the city will be completed before the monsoon. They never fulfil their promise,” Inamdar said. Additional City Engineer (Road), Pramod Nirbhavane denied that there was any construction work going on the roads in the city. “Apart from DP Road, no other construction work is on in the city,” Nirbhavane said.